Easily Missed Details (Season 1)
This page lists interesting but easily missed observations, in addition to the References, Easter Eggs and Inconsistencies, you can make throughout the game Life is Strange. Those observations mainly include actions the player is not directly involved with, objects the player cannot interact with, or simply interesting parallels or foreshadowings. Episode One - "Chrysalis" Conversations in the Corridor After rewinding the first time, Max Caulfield walks out of Mr. Jefferson's class and rushes to the bathroom to save Chloe Price. However, the player can instead stop and listen to the conversations between several Blackwell students: See this video for more. *Courtney Wagner and Taylor Christensen talking about Max and her camera. *Justin Williams and Dana Ward talking about Justin's smoking habits. *Logan Robertson and another Blackwell student bullying Daniel DaCosta and demanding cash from him. *Brooke Scott commenting on her racing game session. *Juliet Watson and Zachary Riggins flirting with each other. *Samuel Taylor making comments about his work and about Rachel Amber. Poster in the Corridor On the inside of the doors that lead out onto the main campus grounds is a poster that features the same cartoon man who is present as a sticker on the phone that Chloe decorated with Max when they were little. Victoria's Phone Call With a close enough look on the display of Victoria Chase's ringing phone during Jefferson's lecture at the beginning of the game, you can see that the name that shows up is "Zach" ("Zak") which is supported by his contact picture. This observation is very interesting regarding the fact that Victoria and Zachary were sexting despite his relationship with Juliet; it's possible that there was more between them. Max's Doodles The doodles on Max's notebook in Jefferson's class at the beginning of the game include the phrase "winter is coming", which is an important quote from . The meaning behind these words is one of warning and constant vigilance, which really foretells the story. There also seems to be a scribble of Frank The Rabbit from .Frank The Rabbit is a person named Frank in a life-size demonic-looking rabbit costume who has the ability to move through time, and who warns Donnie, the protagonist of , that the world is going to end in a specific amount of time. His objective is to guide Donnie in his path to correcting the timeline of the primary universe to prevent the world's destruction. One of many references to Donnie Darko throughout the game. There is also a doodle of Victoria saying, "yes yes yes Mr. Jefferson." Kate's Doodles If you take a closer look at the scribbles on Kate Marsh's notebook in Jefferson's class at the beginning of the game, you will notice that they indicate suicidal thoughts and already foreshadow her eventual suicide attempt. The doodles depict an angel whose face is covered in blood, a tree with gallows as well as the words "WASTE" and "SO LONELY". Unaffected Blue Butterfly When Max rewinds time "unintentionally" to save Chloe from being shot in the bathroom, the blue butterfly is apparently unaffected by her rewind - the only other thing to not be affected by Max's rewind powers is the ghostly doe, as we see later. This calls the butterfly's true nature into question. However, when Max enters the bathroom a second time (knowing she has powers this time), the blue butterfly can be seen on the sink and is affected by the rewind. It could be speculated that the (spiritual) nature of the blue butterfly has now changed. butterfly-norewind1.png butterfly-norewind2.png Max's Tears After her first accidental rewind in the bathroom which brought her back into the art class, it is possible to see — for a fleeting moment — tears rolling down Max's cheeks. The tears seem to be randomly triggered thus several results are possible. Max crying Max was actually crying after her first accidental rewind Pool Entrance Graffiti As you wander around the front of Blackwell Academy you will find graffiti of a shark "eating" an otter. Not only does this represent the school's swimming team dominating their rival school's team, it also refers to Episode 3, where Chloe says to Max, "Why, look, an otter in my water!", to which Max says, "I can't even watch any of those shark shows." Conversation with Warren If the player chooses "No fucking way will I watch that" dialogue when Warren Graham starts to talk about Cannibal Holocaust, Warren will say he laughed his ass off. Max replies to him by saying "So you're sensitive" and then he replies to it "Ouch... That sounds awful the way you say it." If the player chooses the "How so?" option after this, Warren will say "Sensitive usually means won't be having sex with you", which leads to an awkward moment. Dialogue in Chloe's Room While investigating Chloe's room, you can talk with Chloe. She asks you "So tell me, what does Max Caulfield do for fun now that she's a grown-up?" and Max can give stereotypical answers such as "Party all night.". If you give that answer however, Chloe doesn't believe you and clearly gets disappointed as she hoped Max would be happy taking photos. If the player rewinds and gives an honest option "I take photos", Chloe says that this answer inspired her and she no longer feels hopeless. clip maybe Photo of David In David Madsen's garage, Max can find and comment of a photo of him that she finds in a drawer. Certain features on this photo match features that are near to Stella Hill's room in the girls' dormitory. david_in_girls_dorms.png|Matching features. Photo of Chloe Skateboarding On the pin board in the hallway of the Madsen household, there is a photo of Chloe skateboarding. There are distinctive physical features in the background of this photo that match the parking lot at Blackwell Academy: the trees; the land gradient; the top of the street lamp; the trash can; the same type of bay marking. (There is also a similar truck, but this is partially obscured by Chloe to be sure and it would be unrealistic to think the same truck is still parked there years later.) This shows us that Chloe was skateboarding on Blackwell's parking lot. The photo was taken by WilliamAccording to pre-release gameplay footage of Before the Storm, a 16-year-old Chloe can look at the pin board and say, "Dad took these photos." when Max was still living in Arcadia Bay.The same photo is visible on the same pin board when Max jumps back in time through a photo in Episode 3 to the day William died, when she was aged 13; therefore, Max would have known that Chloe was into skateboarding. It is calculated that Chloe and Max would be 14 and 13, respectively, from September 21, 2008 - March 10, 2009, and the school year would have started in early September. This means that Chloe would have been a student at Blackwell at the time Max went back in time, because of Max turning 13 on September 21. chloe-skateboard-blackwell.png|The distinctive physical features. Rewind Sounds The sounds Max hears while rewinding are reversed future and past dialog pieces. Max's Rewind Sound Effects Played Backwards Cleaned Up life is strange EASTER EGG - Life is Strange Backwards Message Graffiti at the Blackwell Fountain N/A image Max's Guitar If you play Max's guitar she plays the song "Crosses", which can be heard by turning on her stereo and on the bus during Episode 2. If you turn on her stereo and then play the guitar, Max will play along with the song. clip Graffiti in Chloe's Truck The graffiti behind Chloe in her truck says, “you are about to die”, perhaps foreshadowing the possible future of Chloe/Arcadia Bay.Due to the stylistic differences between the E's, confirmation was sought from the truck's concept designer, Edouard Caplain, who confirmed that the final word is definitely "die" and not "dip". Chloe-truck_graffiti_01.png Chloe-truck_graffiti_02.png Graffiti in Chloe's Room N/A Chloe's Suitcase N/A David's Files N/A Glyphs at the Lighthouse N/A Episode Two - "Out of Time" Warren Peeping at Max As soon as Max gets out of bed, if she makes her way quickly over to the window by her fan and waits for a few seconds, Warren can be seen peeping around the corner of the building and looking up at Max's window before quickly disappearing back around the corner, probably afraid of being spotted by Max.More in this video. Peeping_Warren.png Peeping_Warren-closeup.png Max's Guitar If you play Max's guitar she plays the song "Something Good", which plays in the opening of Episode 2. If you play the guitar while the song is playing on Max's Hi-Fi, Max will play along with the song. clip TP-Girl N/A Trevor's Sweet Message If Max heads straight to the shower room, she will miss Trevor writing a sweet declaration of love on Dana's room slate ("Love you. T."). He is only there for a moment before waving goodbye to Dana and leaving the girls' dormitory. Trevor_writes_on_slate-01.png Trevor_writes_on_slate-02.png Trevor_writes_on_slate-03.png Polite Bathroom Rewind After Max gets out of the shower, she can use any one of the sinks. However, if she does this, she will hear a voice shout, "Hello?! Water!", for which Max apologizes with, "Sorry, I forgot!", having forgotten about the water pressure. She can rewind this moment and make a comment about letting people enjoy their showers in peace. Max_sink_use.png Max_sink_look.png Max_sink_rewind.png Stolen Photos When Max returns from her shower, and if she had told the principal the truth about Nathan having a gun in the girls bathroom in Episode 1, she will find her "Photo Memorial Wall" vandalized. Underneath the graffiti, 15 of her photos are now missing from the wall. EP2-before_shower.png|Memorial Wall before shower. Memorial_wall_intact.png|Asset used in the game before shower. EP2-after_shower.png|Memorial Wall after shower. Memorial_wall_missing.png|Asset used in the game after shower. Lighthouse Monologue When Max looks at the Lighthouse after sitting down at the Two Whales Diner, she thinks to herself that the lighthouse "looks so mysterious" and wishes she could "stay in this moment forever". This is a foreshadowing or an ill prophecy of what will happen later in Max's nightmare from Episode 5, "Polarized" when Max actually gets stuck in that moment "forever" - if it wasn't for Chloe's rescue, of course. Science Lab Scratches The writing "Warren + Alyssa Anderson 2013" inside a heart is scratched on a desk in the Science Lab, next to where Brooke is standing. Another one, reading "Warren = Genius of My Ass", is on a desk behind Warren. They share similar handwriting, and the author is most likely Alyssa. Alternative theory: Actually the handwriting is noticeably different between both pictures, just look at the shared letters. For example the Rs. The Warren = Genius of my ass carving looks more similar to the Rachel Amber 4ever carving from the optional photo. WarrenAlyssa.png WarrenGenius.png RachelAmberLove.png Nathan's Facial Expressions Nathan's facial expressions and voice tone in the Photography Lab (and later at the Two Whales Diner) are more aggressive if you reported him to the principal and took a photo of Victoria in episode one.See this video for more. video Rachel's Shirt at the Junkyard At the junkyard, near to the spot where Max first notices the doe, there is a "piece of clothing", a punk-rock shirt simliar to Rachel's style, torn and hanging near the spot. If she interacts with this clothing, she will say, "This was an old-school punk shirt..."'' The game asset for this shirt is listed as TX_Fab_JnkRachPnk_D, which suggests that it indeed belonged to Rachel Amber. junkyard-rachel-shirt2.png|Shirt as seen in the junkyard. junkyard-rachel-shirt.png|The asset in the game files (reversed image). Comments about Kate If Max doesn't head towards the dormitories after seeing Kate on the roof, several Blackwell students can be heard making comments about the situation.See this video for more. : '''Zachary: '''Who is that up there? '''Daniel: '''Oh, no! Is that Kate? '''Trevor: '''I hope not. '''Male Student: '''Holy shit! That chick is right on the ledge! '''Taylor: '''If she jumps, she might not die... '''Victoria: '''Yes, she will. '''Alyssa: '''I cannot believe this, Brooke... '''Dana: '''No! No! '''Trevor: '''How long has she been up there? '''Evan: '''Long enough. '''Dana: '''Don't! Come down! Get down! '''Brooke: '''Poor Kate. That fucking viral video. '''Daniel: '''Man, this is so not why I came to Blackwell! Episode Three - "Chaos Theory" Ninja Chloe When the Blackwell guards start sweeping the school for intruders, you can find Chloe hiding between a locker and the wall in the girls' locker room. If you look at her and speak to her, they both have the same thoughts: that there’s no room for Max to squeeze into that hiding spot with her. Vending Machine If you rewind time after using the vending machine and use it again, Max will make a comment about how she could get every can in the machine with just one coin. Locker Room Rewind After choosing a locker room at the pool and going inside, if you rewind as far back as possible, then turn around and open the door from the inside, Max will attempt to surprise Chloe like she did in the Principal's office. Chloe will, however, reply with: ''"Dude, it's getting old! Try and dazzle me with another trick!" Lyrics of "Lua " The song played by Chloe after they wake up in Chloe's room had a line that goes "We might die from medication but we sure killed all the pain" which could be foreshadowing Chloe's fate in the alternative timeline if Max would choose to accept Chloe's request (by granting Chloe an overdose of morphine). Max's First Kiss If you talk to Chloe before putting on Rachel's clothes, you can have the following conversation: : Max: "Oh okay, woman of the world. Please tell me what it's like to get that first magic kiss!" : Chloe: "Sorry, sorry. Didn't mean to get you all worked up... I just don't think anybody is good enough for you... besides me." Max's reaction and Chloe's reply could be interpreted as Max having never kissed anyone before. Chloe's Phone Background If the player made three of the following four choices, Chloe will change her phone background and put Max's selfie instead: *Took blame for Chloe's weed *Didn't answer Kate's call *Tried to shoot Frank *Stole money from principal's office. If Max checks Chloe's phone, this will make her happy and will think that she's worthier than Rachel. If the player didn't encourage it by not making these specific choices (or only made 1 or 2 of them,or met 3 but blamed Chloe for the weed) Chloe won't change her phone background. If Max checks Chloe's phone, this will disappoint her since she thinks she can't compete with Rachel. This can be interpreted as Max being jealous of Rachel − as the choice and consequence system implies, Chloe's changing her background to Max's selfie is the romance factor that encourages Max, and actually is the brownie point that Chloe gives to Max. Interestingly enough, the picture of Max is the same picture as on Max's social media profile. It is unknown if Max gave her this picture or Chloe searched Max's social media page for a picture to use, even though the latter seems more likely — especially if one considers that Chloe doesn't own any digital picture of Max: when they were kids only analog pictures were taken. Note3-chloeroom-chloephone-rachel.png|Default background. Note3-chloeroom-chloephone-max.png|Changed background. Note3-Max-profile_picture-crop.png|Max's social media profile picture. Warren's Profile Picture The sign "Hello how do you do" and the phone lines seen in the background of Warren's profile picture in Max's diary strongly imply that the photograph was taken across from the Two Whales diner. Ideograms The same ideograms (either Chinese or Japanese) can be seen both on one of Jefferson's photographs and on a cardboard used by Frank to hide the inside of his RV: 法餅. Picture.png|Jefferson's photo. Frankcardboard.png|Frank's cardboard. No matter the language used, together the ideograms don't seem to have any proper meaning. Individually the first one means "law, method or principle" while the second refers to mochi rice cakes. Max and Chloe's Funny "Lewd" Conversation In Frank's RV, if Max waits long enough before bringing the photo of Rachel and Frank to Chloe, they will have the following conversation : : Chloe: "Crappy wi-fi out here. Must take him days to download porn." : Max: "Yuck." : Chloe: "Whoa, what the hell is he doing with that dog...?" : Max: '''"Ugh... Stop it." : '''Chloe: "I cannot believe he would wear a collar and a furry mask..." : Max: "You're dumb!" : Chloe: "Max, you didn't tell me you took photos of Frank in action..." : Max: "I'm seriously ignoring you." Wine Tasting Sessions When Max and Chloe were younger, they used to have "wine tasting sessions" at Chloe's home whenever her parents weren't at home. There are two instances in which this is mentioned. The first is when Max is at Chloe's house for the first time in the game and is able to explore the living room. She find the stain that was left from one time where they had spilled the wine on the ground and it makes her remember that situation vividly. The second one is when Max goes back to 2008 and tries to prevent William's death. When William is leaving the house, he says, "And no Max and Chloe wine tasting sessions." 2008 Time-Jump Photo Script When Max sadly stares down at a 2008 photograph of her and Chloe near the end of this episode, she hears two echoey lines of a conversation from her past. It can be hard to make out the words, but according to the game files they are: : Chloe (laughing): "Get a close-up of Max!" : Max: "Knock it off, Chloe!" Max drops the photo in shock. When she picks it up again to focus on the image, she hears four more lines: : William: "Yes girls, time for a picture!" : Chloe: "Cheesecake!" : William: "Come on now, say 'Pancake!'" : Max (laughing): "I can't even see!" As she achieves focus and goes back in time through the photo, two dialogue pairings will occur at random depending on the time you take to bring the image into focus. Three known combinations are: : 1) Chloe: "Cheesecake!"... with ... Max: "I hate pictures of myself!" : 2) Chloe: "Make me! You look hilarious!"... with ... William: "Come on now, say 'Pancake!'" : 3) William: "You look like a ghost!"... with ... Max (laughing): "I can't even see!" According to the game files, the dialogue order for the full conversation from Max's past goes as follows: : William: "Yes girls, time for a picture!" : Chloe: ''"Max needs more flour on her face!"'' : Max (laughing): "I can't even see!" : William: "You look like a ghost!" : Chloe (laughing): "Get a close-up of Max!" : Max: ''"Knock it off, Chloe!"'' : Chloe: "Make me! You look hilarious!" : William: ''"Come on now, say 'Pancake!'"'' : Chloe: "Cheesecake!" : Max: "I hate pictures of myself!" Alternative Max's Bag After she created a new timeline where she is now a member of the Vortex Club, Max's camera bag is slightly different from before: instead of having a patch "Cool Story Bro" on the shoulder strap, a patch with a vortex symbol can be seen, probably a way for Alternative Max to show that she is a Vortex Club member. Coolstory-max.png|Max's "cool story bro" patch Altbag.jpg|Max's Vortex patch Episode Four - "Dark Room" Ladybug in the Clock When the player enters the living room of Chloe's house, Max notices that the clock has stopped. She wonders if it was her fiddling with time that caused the clock to malfunction. Upon closer examination, it is revealed that the reason was simple: a ladybug stuck in the dials. ￼Max's Hesitation when Introducing Chloe When introducing Chloe to mister Jefferson, Max — for a brief instant — unmistakably hesitates and stumbles over the word "friend". It sounds like Max didn't know for sure how to qualify her relationship with Chloe. Spying on Frank's RV If Chloe shot Frank in the leg and Max lingers around his RV, she will be able to hear him complaining about the pain, saying he can't believe he was shot by two teenagers and that he must do something for his leg. If Chloe stabbed Frank in the leg and Max lingers around his RV, she will he able to hear him saying he needs to take the knife out of his leg and how he needs Pompidou. Vortex Party "Hot Scene" When Max enters the VIP section of the End of the World Party, she can notice a couple in the dark, hidden behind one of the lane reels. If she stands nearby for long enough, she can listen to their secretive conversation (labelled "VIP_HotScene" in the game files): : Teen Boy: "Come on, baby."... "Come on, for me."... "It's OK… Hey! Hey! It's OK. Just… Relax."... "Come on... Hey, I'm not gonna hurt you!" : Teen Girl: "Ha ha! Stop."... "Ha ha! It tickles, stop it."... "Someone's gonna see us."... "(laugh)". Kissing_couple.png Kissing_couple-closeup.png Episode Five - "Polarized" Max's Inner Thoughts on the Plane If the player doesn't interact with anything after Principal Wells woke up on the plane, Max will state how happy she is that Chloe's alive and that she's not going to let Chloe out of her sight again. But Chloe is alive! Focus on that, Max... Now I have to wait until after my trip to see her again... and I'm not letting her out of my sight again… Chloe's Necklace Before leaving the Dark Room to head to the Two Whales, Max has the option to look at and take Chloe's bullet necklace, which is lying by the computer. After looking at it, Max will make the following comment: "Oh, Chloe... I'm going to save you... for the last time." If Max decides to take the necklace with her, she will say: "There's no way I'm leaving your necklace here." Max's Phone When Max takes out her phone to call Warren and ask him for the photo, you can see that the carrier on Max's phone is "Vaireezon". You can also find out the exact time Max calls Warren, at 12:19 am. Victoria's Notebook Max can inspect |Victoria's notebook in which she wrote that "Mark Jefferson rules" but only seems to care about Max. She acknowledges her envy for Max and writes that she should "get over herself". Chloe and David In this episode both David and Chloe reflect upon their relationship with each other and for once acknowledge and appreciate the other one for something they had always seen as a flaw before. For Chloe, it is acknowledging and appreciating David's affinity for security. For David, it is Chloe's smoking habits. Both lines are structured in parallel. RV Graffiti As Max makes her way to the Two Whales Diner to see Warren to get the photo, she can walk over to Frank's RV that is situated outside the diner. A new detail is now present on Max's graffiti (if she opted to draw on the RV in Episode 1). This new detail appears to imitate the gunshot wound that Chloe suffered to the head at the end of Episode 4. At this point in the game, Max's intentions are to obtain Warren's photo so that she can go back in time to save Chloe from this particular fate. Dead Birds on the Nightmare Campus ... Reversed Hallway in the Nightmare Since everything is backwards in this sequence, if Max uses her rewind power, she will obvert everything for a temporary period (making everything proceed "normally": movements of the surroundings, dialogues, and the background music "uoY fo llA oT", etc.). However, the rewinding will not work on the spirit doe, as always. Reversed Hallway b.jpg Reversed hallway c.jpg Also, when taking the optional photo of the skeleton (#8), the player has to press the "Journal" key to execute the reversed action of this photoshoot. People Outside the Nightmare Diner When Max is inside the Two Whales Diner in her nightmare, she can look out of the windows to see hundreds of people standing eerily still. These people likely represent the residents of Arcadia Bay that could die as a result of Max's actions. nightmare_diner_people.png Max's Nightmare Insecurity If the player didn't choose to kiss Chloe in Episode 3, then during the Warren and Chloe scene, after Warren insults Max, Chloe will say, "I hear that. I'm not into... nerds, but you're pretty cute". An optional dialogue in Episode 3 during Max and Chloe's swim in Blackwell's pool implies that one of Max's insecurities is that she is thought of as a nerd especially by Chloe. The obvious pause before "nerd" in Chloe's dialogue shows that Max still feels herself inadequate for Chloe as the nightmare sequence demonstrates. maxinsecure-pool.png maxinsecure-nightmare.png Max's Plane Ticket In her diary Max drew her plane ticket. She wrote "San Fransisco" instead of Francisco. The ticket is written to be from Portland, and not Arcadia Bay. Likely because the nearest airport is in Portland. Max's Last Journal Entries If the player presses Tab just after the nightmare sequence, they can access Max's last journal entries which are heavily focused on her feelings about Chloe. If the player didn't kiss Chloe in Episode 3, Max asks herself if she has subconsciously been developing some feelings for Chloe. If the player chose to kiss Chloe, Max seems more sure about her feelings. (Click here to read the entries) Sacrifice Chloe Ending When Joyce hands down some of Chloe's belongings to Max, you can spot her studded bracelet. Max will wear it during Chloe's funeral. Notes References Category:Life is Strange Category:Special Content